Just Rewards
by thefrenchchick
Summary: Castiel comes up with a new plan to help Sam and Dean.
1. Constant Surprises

**Disclaimer: I don't own Supernatural. If I did they would have done a Musical episode by now.**

**Comments are always lovely. :)**

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"You're sure about this? From what you've told me he's not exactly going to be thrilled." The woman said, giving the man a final chance to back out.

"Yes." There was a soft, still hesitant sigh and then a nod.

Two separate bursts of light disappeared and then materialized again, one solid white and another swirling red next to it a moment later. Both men who were already standing in the room turned to look at the interruption, clearly not expecting it.

"Sam. Dean." The Angel said, greeting the brothers as they took in the fact that it was Castiel that had appeared and both men looked pleasantly surprised at this.

"Cas. Good to see you, buddy." Dean said, clearly excited the Angel had come to visit them. "Yeah, it's been a while." Sam added. Castiel nodded self-consciously, acknowledging how long he'd been away. In the silence that followed, Dean was the first to react to the smaller figure that was standing next to Cas.

"Who's the chick?" He asked.

"That's part of why I'm here. This is Natalie. I asked her to help me with your… case." Castiel explained, clearly choosing his words carefully so he wouldn't give anything away too soon. "She's a Cupid." Both brothers faces turned different shades of confused and annoyed as they remembered how their last encounter with a cupid had gone.

"But you're wearing clothes?" Dean observed, directing the question vaguely at the young woman.

She laughed quietly before answering him. "I forgot Cas told me you'd met a Cupid before." She paused and saw the look on Dean's face. "Don't worry, I don't do the handshake." She said, and Dean relaxed. With that introduction over, Sam turned back towards Castiel.

"So what brings you here? Not that we aren't happy to see you, it's just usually when you show up it's because something bad is going on." Sam commented, and Cas seemed almost hurt by that though Dean was quick to add to the misery. "Yeah, like last time when you wanted us to take out that vampire nest. Or the time before that with the vengeful dog spirit that only went after squirrels."

Sam interrupted Dean, not wanting to go down that road. "You said something about a case?"

"Not exactly. The Angels have been talking a lot about your situation lately." He gestured to Sam and Dean. "We've decided that there needs to be a change." Sam gave Cas a look that said he clearly didn't want any part of this plan and Dean seemed to be on the same page.

"Look if you're going to tell us that we have some crappy new destiny then forget it." Sam said. "We have our old life back hunting and I don't think either of us want that screwed up." Castiel seemed to expect this. "There is no "crappy new destiny" as you put it." Cas said, trying to reassure the brothers.

"Ok, but wait, then why do we need a Cupid's help exactly?" Sam asked, still not understanding where Cas was going with all this.

"Some of the Angels, including myself, believe that you've earned some sort of reward for everything you've been put through." Cas said. Dean immediately perked up at this admission. "Which is why she's here." Cas offered. "We thought that the best way to repay you would be to help you find love." Dean looked as deflated as he had been excited moments ago.

"I should tell you though," Cas continued and Natalie looked away, knowing the awkwardness that was coming. "We only asked Natalie to help Dean. Though we feel that Sam has more than earned a reward we're also not sure if helping him find love is the right one for him. Or if he's ready for it." Dean finally let his annoyance bubble to the surface.

"So you're telling me I have to let Miss Cherub over here play matchmaker on me while Sam gets nada? I don't think so, Cas." Natalie looked slightly offended and Castiel sighed, having prepared himself for this exact argument.

"This is a very generous offer, Dean, and one that we won't make twice. I suggest you accept and at least try to enjoy it. However, we will not force you to do anything." Cas finished. Dean glanced at Sam to see what his take on the situation was and Sam gave a non-committal shrug.

"What's the worst that can happen? You do love girls, man." Sam pointed out. Dean seemed to consider this for a moment before turning back to Cas and Natalie.

"And If I don't think it's working out can I call the shots and stop?" Dean questioned Natalie.

"Absolutely." She nodded, knowing that giving Dean some control over it was not only fair, but also the only way they'd ever get him to agree. Dean shook his head a little as if still considering.

"Alright, I'm in, but only if you promise me that Sammy gets a reward too." Dean bargained. Sam seemed both amused and sort of impressed that his brother had made that part of the deal. "Of course." Cas agreed, relieved that they had won this battle.

"I thought it might be a good idea for Natalie to spend some time with both of you to get to know Dean and figure out who he should be with." Cas offered, hoping there wouldn't be another round of protest at the suggestion.

"As long as you don't have to come on hunts, I guess." Dean agreed, looking pointedly at Natalie. She looked at Sam then, making sure he was okay with the idea too. Sam was somewhat surprised by his brother's acceptance but didn't seem to mind either. "If you think you can teach Dean some manners, I'm all for it." He said, laughing a little.

Dean turned his head sideways to look at Sam. "Hey, I have manners…" he said defensively. Castiel seemed to be ignoring this exchange and just looked happy that everything had gone the way he planned. "Well then, I'll leave you to it." Cas said, before disappearing as quickly as he came.

Dean opened his mouth as if to say something before Castiel left but abruptly closed it when he realized the Angel was gone before turning to Natalie. "Alright then, let's get this over with."


	2. Shoot To Thrill

At the suggestion from Cas that Natalie spend time with Dean the three ended up at a diner for lunch the next day. Though she strongly suspected that Dean was much more concerned with the idea of food than her figuring him out, Dean and Sam took her up on the offer. Contrary to her suspicions however, while Dean was clearly interested in the menu he was also showing a surprising amount of curiosity about her plan.

"So how does this work? There's Cupid magic or something, right?" Dean asked. "Well, we do have Cupid powers, yeah. But Cas seemed to think it would be better for you if I just kind of got to know you and set you up." Natalie explained. "Well I have to agree with him there." Dean commented. "Why did you agree to help Cas in the first place anyway, you owe him a favor or something?" Natalie laughed quietly. "No. When my bosses get an order from the angels they pretty much have to follow it. I just happened to be the one that got …assigned. I guess Cas knew about me and decided I was right for the job."

Just as Natalie was about to point out the fact that she should be the one asking the questions, the waitress arrived at the table. The young blonde woman had obviously caught Dean's eye and Natalie was curious to see how he would react. Apart from lazily flirting with her and some ogling, Dean hadn't made any serious advances towards her. After the waitress (whose name Dean managed to find out was Amy) had left after taking their orders, Natalie wasted no time in asking Dean what she was wondering.

"Do you like her?" She asked Dean, bracing herself since she knew his answer would be a pretty good indication of how the whole assignment would go.

"Do you mean do I like her or like like her?" Dean mocked, clearly proud of his humor. After seeing Natalie raise an eyebrow that said she was clearly not amused, he paused for a moment before answering. "Yeah, she's hot I guess." He said, uncomfortably. "I don't know. This is just weird talking to a girl about other girls."

"Okay, then pretend I'm a guy if you have to." She said, not letting him out of the question. Dean sighed. "She's hot, okay. But why does any of that matter?" He questioned. "We're gonna be in town less than a week, just like always." Natalie thought about that statement for a minute, not quite knowing how to respond.

Just then Amy had come to the table again to see if they were ready for the check when she happened to mention the dessert menu included pie. Dean perked up not unlike a kid on Christmas morning she when told him he could even pick the piece he wanted out of the pastry and Dean followed her off eagerly. Sam chuckled at his brothers excitement but didn't look surprised.

"Can I ask you something? I'm afraid it might come out the wrong way though." Natalie said, turning to Sam while still trying to watch what Dean was doing. "Yeah, sure." He nodded. "Were you surprised that Cas gave Dean a reward but not you?" She ventured. He hesitated a moment, and she jumped in again. "I'm sorry, I shouldn't have have asked that." He shook his head. "No it's okay. To be honest, I wasn't really surprised, no." Natalie looked at him confused, but didn't want to push for more of an answer. "Did Cas tell you that's what would happen before you met us?" He asked. "Yes." She admitted. "But he explained it to me the same way he did to you- that they just don't know what your reward should be yet." Sam nodded but didn't look quite convinced.

Dean came back to the table, multiple pieces of pie in hand, and after finishing some time later it was decided that Natalie would meet them later that night after they had interviewed the people for the case they were working on. When Natalie arrived at the hotel later that night, however, it was far from the scene she had imagined it being. She waited patiently after knocking on the door and when there was no answer she was about to turn to leave when she heard arguing coming from inside. She was just making up her mind whether or not she should knock again when the door opened and she was greeted with a slightly drunk, surprised Dean.

"That girl is here again!" Dean said much louder than he probably meant to. Natalie could hear Sam's footsteps coming towards the door and saw the confused look on his face fade when he saw who was actually at the door. "Hi." He said as almost an apology. "Look I can come back tomorrow instead if you want since it doesn't seem like it's a good time right now." Natalie offered. "No it's okay, he's not like this a lot, I promise. Although, he's pretty honest when he's wasted so it might be a good time if you want to get something out of him." Natalie considered it for a moment before agreeing. Sam was sober so at least he might be able to help her decipher Dean's drunken ramblings.

Dean had already wandered to the couch and was attached to his beer once again. Natalie took a seat on the other side of the couch and Sam picked the armchair next to it. After Dean had turned the TV back on and clearly wasn't in the mood to communicate, Natalie had resigned herself to the fact that nothing productive was going to happen when Dean surprised them all. "Alright, so what do you want to know, I know you're dying over there. No chick flick moments though." He said without taking his eyes off the TV. Natalie turned to Sam as if to question whether it was really happening and got an encouraging nod.

"Have you ever been in love?" She asked, wondering if he would consider that a chick flick question. "Yep." He answered, clearly not going to elaborate. Natalie decided the questioning wasn't getting anywhere and took a chance.

"Can I try something? I promise no chick flick moments. You don't even have to open up and I can still find out what I need to." Dean finally turned his attention from the TV and gave her a quizzical look. "What do I have to do?" He asked. "Give me your hand. It's kind of like a vulcan mind meld but not exactly." She explained. "Like a mind meld? What the hell is that?" He asked, holding out his hand. "From Star Trek." Natalie and Sam said at the same time. "As if one geek wasn't bad enough." Dean groaned. Natalie turned slightly red but continued on. "Don't worry. It'll let me see your memories but it won't hurt or anything." She reassured him. Dean held his hand out again and Natalie took it, hoping she wasn't making a huge mistake.

Dean's memories rushed through her mind as she tried to concentrate on the ones that had anything to do with love. As she took everything in as it whirled past her, she got a much better understanding of why Cas might have thought Dean needed some help, although she admitted it was understandable considering what he'd been through. As the images slowed, she let go of his hand and saw he was looking at her with an expression of worry and slight fear. "Did you see what you needed to?" He asked in a quiet voice that sounded much more sober than before. Natalie nodded. "Thank you."


	3. Something for Nothing

After the night that Natalie had seen Dean's memories she decided it would be best to take at least a few days to analyze them and figure out what the next step should be. Not insignificant was the fact that she felt giving Dean some space while she pondered this could made him less resistant. All this was why less than twenty-four hours after Natalie had come to this conclusion she was shocked at the turn of events that began as she was in Hong Kong researching another client. She heard someone softly calling her name as if waiting for an answer and a few moments recognized the voice as Dean's. Concentrating on the voice, Natalie relocated herself to the same motel room that she had left the night before. Both brothers had their backs to her and seemed to be conferring with each other about something and waiting expectantly.

"Were you calling me?" She ventured, realizing neither man knew she was there. Sam and Dean both flinched having clearly been startled by the new arrival. Having recovered from their surprise, Dean nodded and started to explain. "Yeah. We weren't sure exactly how to get in touch with you again so we tried the same thing we do with Cas." Natalie nodded in understanding and smiled. "It worked. I'm surprised to hear from you so soon though." She said, looking fairly confused herself. "Did something happen with Amy?" she inquired about the pretty waitress from the day before. Dean looked as if he was making a great effort not to roll his eyes at this question but composed himself again before answering. "No actually. We…" he trailed off. "We need your help with a case." If Natalie had been shocked before it was nothing compared to her reaction to this new information.

"A case?" she said disbelievingly. "Not that I wouldn't be happy to help but wasn't one of your conditions of my helping you specifically that I not have to go on any cases?" she wondered, still not entirely sure this wasn't a joke. Seeing his brother so reluctant to admit he may have been wrong, Sam continued. "The case we're working on now that brought us here took a while to figure out what the connection between the victims was." He offered, but then decided it would be easier to start from the beginning. "For about a month now there have been a string of women killed all over the southeast. All of them died the same way but they've been spread out enough that the police wouldn't put it together." Dean now took up the story.

"There was another incident here in Arkansas so we came to see if we could identify if it was the same killer." he paused, clearly hoping for dramatic affect. "Which we did. Then once we made the connection between the victims Sammy here though it would be a good idea to see if you could tell us anything." He concluded. Although Cas had told Natalie in gruesome detail some of the situations that Sam and Dean had been in, talking about these women that had died somehow made it seem even more real. There were still questions she needed answered, however.

"Okay." Natalie said. "I'm following, but I'm still not sure exactly why you need _my _help." Dean looked at his brother before Sam continued the story. "All the victims were missing their hearts. They hadn't even been cut out, but when they did an autopsy their hearts were just gone." Natalie was starting to understand her involvement better as Sam carried on. "For a while the only similarity we could find was the missing hearts but then when we were visiting the family of the last victim we realized that there was something else. All of the women were engaged." Natalie finally realized why the Winchesters had called her. "You think they were targeted because they were engaged?" She asked. Dean shrugged. "Right now it's all we got. We're not even sure what we're dealing with here honestly. We've seen demons that would rip people's organs out for a snack before, but this is different." He said, sounding genuinely concerned that they were facing an unknown enemy.

"We were hoping you might be able to help us talk to some of the people involved and see if maybe you can find something we didn't. I know it's a long shot, but.." he offered. Natalie seemed to consider this thoroughly for a few moments before responding. "Sure." She agreed. "I'm not sure how much I'll be able to help since it's not really part of my job as a cupid and I have no experience but I'll try." She finished. Sam and Dean smiled at her willingness. She had another idea, however. "I do have one condition though. I'll go on the case as long as you don't forget that I'm supposed to be finding love for you too." She bargained. Dean scanned her face for any sarcasm or insincerity but found none. "Fine. I guess it might not be so bad." He conceded, mumbling the last part. Natalie grinned in triumph and then went back to the problem at hand.

"What is it exactly you want me to find out?" She inquired. The brothers glanced at each other as if silently arguing who would have to break the bad news. Finally, Sam seemed to have lost the fight and spoke up. "We sort of need you to break into a morgue with us." He announced. Natalie raised an eyebrow as if to ask for further explanation and he went on. "We haven't been able to look at the most recent victim yet and since the funeral is in two days, we have to see it before it's gone." He finished.

Natalie nodded her head resignedly and was quiet for a moment. "Okay. I assume you've done this before?" She asked, trying to reassure herself. Dean tilted his head slightly as if to ask if that was really a serious question. "Never mind." She said, shaking her head. Clearly becoming impatient for some action Dean spoke up again. "Well, if you're game, then let's go now." Without waiting any longer they left the hotel room and headed for the Impala. When they arrived at the car Natalie hesitated, wondering what instructions Dean might give her. Unceremoniously he told her "You hurt my baby, I hurt you" and proceeded to climb into the drivers seat. Natalie laughed to herself and took her own seat in the back. It was a short drive to the hospital accompanied by AC/DC and Blue Oyster Cult and after Dean parked Natalie brought up something that had been on her mind during the ride.

"So, what exactly is your plan?" she asked the brothers. Dean thought for a second. "Well, we don't usually do this with three people and we don't have any fake IDs for you so I can distract whoever's at the front desk with my irresistible charm and then you and Sammy can sneak back to the morgue once it's clear." Now it was Natalie's turn to stifle an eye roll at Dean's mention of his charm but she had to admit that she didn't have a better plan. She nodded her agreement. "Now or never, then." She said as they got out of the car and walked towards the building hoping that everything would go according to plan.


End file.
